O'Donovan and DiMario met at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in spring of 2001. Former cellist Rushad Eggleston, who was studying at Berklee College of Music, and Liszt, a graduate student at MIT, were playing music together around the same time. When the four met that summer, they formed the band that would be Crooked Still. While its members finished school, Crooked Still played various Boston venues, growing in popularity and collecting favorable reviews from the local press, notably the Boston Globe, Northeast Performer, and the Boston Herald.
In 2004, the group was invited to perform at the Newport Folk Festival and Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, where their debut album, Hop High, was the top-selling CD. Following the success of this first festival appearance, Crooked Still went on to appear at concert halls, nightclubs, coffeehouses, and festivals in 23 states and several different countries. On August 22, 2006, they released their second CD, Shaken by a Low Sound.
In October 2007 the band announced that Eggleston would be leaving the group. Eggleston performed his last show with the band on November 18, 2007, at the Ironhorse in Northampton, Massachusetts. Cellist Tristan Clarridge and fiddler Brittany Haas joined the lineup in January 2008. The band released its first album with the new lineup, Still Crooked, in June 2008.
Wind And Rain
Crooked Still Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Oh the wind and rain
Older one pushed the youngest one in
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
Coz Johnny gave the youngest a gay gold ring
Oh the wind and rain
Didn't give the other one anything
So she pushed her into the river to drown
Oh the wind and rain
Watched her as she floated down
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
She floated 'till she came to the miller's pond
Oh the wind and rain
Cried father o father there swims a swan
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
Then out of the woods came a fidder fair
Oh the wind and rain
He plucked thirty strands of her long yellow hair
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
And he made a fiddle bow of her long yellow hair
Oh the wind and rain
Made a fiddle bow of her long yellow hair
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
And he made fiddle pegs of her long finger bones
Oh the wind and rain
He made fiddle pegs of her long finger bones
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
And he made a little fiddle of her own breast bone
Oh the wind and rain
The sound could melt a heart of stone
Cryin' oh the dreadful wind and rain
And the only tune that the fiddle would play
Was oh the wind and rain
Only tune that the fiddle would play
Was oh the dreadful wind and rain
The song "Wind and Rain" by Crooked Still is a traditional folk ballad that tells the story of two sisters who end up in a tragic and deadly conflict over a gold ring. The song starts with the two sisters walking down a stream before the older sister pushes the younger one into the water. The reason for this act is that Johnny, a man they both love, gave the younger sister a gold ring but not the older one. The younger sister drowns in the water, and her body ends up in the miller's pond where her father sees a swan and cries out in grief.
As the song continues, a fiddler suddenly appears, plucking thirty strands of the younger sister's long yellow hair to make a fiddle bow. He also crafts fiddle pegs from her finger bones and creates a little fiddle from her breastbone. The fiddler plays the only tune the fiddle knows, which is the haunting melody of "Wind and Rain," a tune that sounds like a requiem for the dead.
The song is a tale of obsession, envy, and betrayal, and it ends with a warning that the wind and rain will come for us all. The music of "Wind and Rain" is as eerie and unsettling as the lyrics, as Crooked Still delivers a haunting yet beautiful rendition of this traditional ballad.
Line by Line Meaning
There were two sisters came walkin' down the stream
Two sisters were walking down the stream
Older one pushed the youngest one in
The older sister pushed the younger one into the stream
Coz Johnny gave the youngest a gay gold ring
The younger sister received a gold ring from Johnny
Didn't give the other one anything
The older sister did not receive a gift from Johnny
So she pushed her into the river to drown
The older sister pushed the younger sister into the river to drown
Watched her as she floated down
The older sister watched as the younger sister floated down the river
She floated 'till she came to the miller's pond
The younger sister floated until she reached the miller's pond
Cried father o father there swims a swan
The younger sister's father saw her body and mistook it for a swan
Then out of the woods came a fidder fair
A fiddler appeared from the woods
He plucked thirty strands of her long yellow hair
The fiddler plucked 30 strands of the younger sister's yellow hair
Made a fiddle bow of her long yellow hair
The fiddler made a bow for his fiddle out of the younger sister's hair
He made fiddle pegs of her long finger bones
The fiddler made pegs for his fiddle out of the younger sister's finger bones
And he made a little fiddle of her own breast bone
The fiddler made a small fiddle out of the younger sister's breast bone
The sound could melt a heart of stone
The sound of the fiddle was very emotional
Only tune that the fiddle would play
The fiddle only played one tune
Was oh the dreadful wind and rain
The tune that the fiddle played was called 'The Dreadful Wind and Rain'
Contributed by Brayden H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Pretzl
Keep it coming, Crooked Still! We love it.
Butterfly Taster
being the most familiar with the version of the wind and rain from ghost quartet, it's so interesting to see how this one is different, in all the ways that it's still the same.
Skyler Hunnicutt
Most familiar with the gillian welch and David rawlings version, but I love the rose lalonde pfp. The song is almost 500 years old, I'm always glad to hear a new version
Lydia MacIntyre
my favourite versions are by Altan and Jerry Garcia, but i love this too
Gandalf The Green
This is like an American version of "The Bonnie Swans", I love it.
Valentina Nuñez
The lyrics are so obscure for such a sweet melody, but its a finely crafted song... thank you.
Monk Moto
hardly obscure. the songs older than the parents of the people who recorded it. the older sister drowned the younger sister because she was jealous johnny gave her a ring. and then its just the expression of the saddness of loss
Edith Finch
@Monk Moto doesn’t change the fact that it’s a bit disturbing lol
boyinthemirror
@Monk Moto she's got a spanish last name, which means she's most likely thinking "oscuro" = dark
NYBrandywineTree
Love the tempo!